Today I signed an online petition that will attempt to persuade the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands to ban 'Grindadrap'. If you're not familiar with it, it's an annually observed and ancient Faroe Islands ritual involving the slaughter of hundreds of Pilot Whales by driving them to coastal water then dragging them onto beaches using gaff hooks, where they are frenziedly stabbed by the local population, and lie screaming in agony before they die a slow and appalling death.

​You may well wonder why?

If the Pilot Whales posed a threat to the Iives of the Faroe Islanders, this action might be understandable. They don't. (They neither carry weapons nor carry out random, unjustified attacks.)

If the Faroe Islanders ate whale meat, this might be comprehensible. They don't. (The meat is inedible for reasons explained below, and although the Faroes is a fishing community, a great deal of their food is shipped in from mainland Denmark.)

If the Pilot Whales threatened the Islander's livelihoods or food supply by depleting fish stocks, it may be possible to empathise with them. They don't. (Pilot Whales primarily eat squid, not fish. The waters around the Faroes are not replete with either thanks to massive overfishing by humans which resulted in a collapse of the fishing industry in the 1990's.)

Actions such as this are worthy of primitives who know no better. In this age there can be no justification for perpetrating acts as dreadful as this one (although it is of course mirrored by a similar orgy of bloodshed performed upon the dolphin population in Japan each year). But the bigger tragedy from a human perspective is that when we allow something as ghastly as this to continue, it is not merely the perpetrators who stunt their soul's progression and consign themselves to hard lessons in future lives, we endanger the wellbeing of the whole population, now, in our lifetimes.

Here's the thing (and you'll know this if you've read the books): some dogs are angels, but all whales are ascended masters. Their sole purpose in being here is to help protect Gaia from the virulent and deadly virus that threatens her existence. That's us. They do this by integrating their energies with hers via their presence in the seas. They do this voluntarily. They are utterly munificent in their choice of action. Their presence is essential. Their positive effect may be observed, ironically, in the fact that so many of their dead bodies are discovered to have absorbed ridiculous levels of mercury, rendering their flesh inedible. Were this not to be the case, the oceans would already be the equivalent of a toxic and deadly moat that imprisoned land masses. When we harm whales we directly harm ourselves. Like bees, if they go, so do we.

I invite everyone reading this to sign the petition calling for a ban. (There's a link at the bottom of this blog.) It may have little effect on the hardened Faroe Islanders who will doubtless call upon their 'rich cultural heritage' as an excuse to slaughter and destroy gentle, harmless and wholly benevolent creatures. But as I have asserted before, to say nothing and to do nothing stops nothing.

There are many things that we do because we have always done them. For individuals this is an issue of ingrained habits that may be broken with relative ease through choice. Societies' evils do not exist independently and are only present because of the actions or inactions of its members. If you do not start to count yourselves amongst those who seek to be part of the solution to the many ills and cruelties that are a testament to our sadly noxious presence on this planet, you are simply part of the problem. It is time to change your mindset and own your role in bringing about healing. It cannot happen without you.

Some traditions deserve to be let go of. This is one of them. Great harm is done to the very people who participate in this orgy of blood. We are less, because we kill. We lose the opportunity to learn and benefit from these great creatures. How can we learn to respect life and this wonderful planet when we continue these barbaric traditions?

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Helen

7/25/2015 01:23:18 pm

Signed! there are so many of these "harmful to all" so called traditions that really need to be stopped!

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These blogs are written by Mark Starmer. Although they may often contain input directly from the etheric, this is his opportunity to sound off about what's important to him. Apologies in advance!